Welted seam



(No Model.) P. W. MERRICK WELTED SEAM.

No. 555,255. Patented Feb. 25, 1896.

I JE LDY.

jwkmzqwdaw 5 M W ANDREW EGRAMAM. PHEITDUI'MI\NilSlllNGl'UILDCv UNTTEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK IV. MERRIOK, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

WELTED SEAM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,255, dated February25, 1896. Application filed January 16, 1894x Serial No. 497,048. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK IV. MERRICK, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in lVelted Seams, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had therein tothe accompanying drawings.

The invention will be described first with reference to the accompanyingdrawings,after which its distinguishing characteristics will beparticularly pointed out and distinctly defined in the claim at theclose of this specification.

In'the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective of a portion ofa weltin g or closing strip such as I embody in my invention.

Fig. 2 is a veiw showing the same in section on line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3is a view in transverse section of a strip of stock such as may beemployed in the construction of the said welting or closing strip. Fig.4 is a similar view showing a modified form of the said strip of stock.Fig. 5 is a view in cross-section of a modified form of welting orclosing strip. Fig. 6 is a view in cross-section showing a seam unitingtwo pieces of leather at their edges with the wedge-shaped welting orclosing strip in position to close the seam. Fig. 7 is a similar viewshowing the position of the parts immediatedly after they are turned.

In the manufacture of articles from leather or similar material-as, forexample, in the manufacture of boots or shoescertain seams, such as theseam up the leg of a boot, require to be what is termed closed-that is,rendered tight-and given a finish by the insertion in the seam of awelting or closing strip. This welting or closing strip is laid inposition between the edges of the pieces of leather A 13 which are to besecured together, and the pieces are then sewed, the stitches passingthrough each end of the pieces of leather and through the interveningwelting or closing strip 0. The stock is then turned-that is, the piecesof leather are then usually separated or spread apart into substantiallythe same plane, and the seam is beaten out and finished.

' The seam when viewed from the finished side of the leatherthat is, theexterior of the boot-leg, for examplerevcals the edge of the welt.Hitherto it has been common to employ a welting or closing strip forthus closing and finishing the seam made from a strip of material, thesides of which are parallel with each other.

In practicing my invention I employ a strip which in crosssection is ofsubstantially wedge shape, being thicker at one edge than at the other,and having converging or beveling sides, as shown in Fig. 2. It ispreferably formed from leather and may conveniently be produced bytaking a four-sided strip of leather, such as is shown in cross-sectionat Fig. 3, which is severed into two parts lengthwise by a beveling cut,as indicated at 2 in said figure, thus forming two strips, each of whichis thicker at one edge than at the other. In making my improved seam thethicker edge of the said strip is so placed in the seam as to show onthe finished side of the Work, and this edge of the strip may be eitherleft fiat or it may be finished by rounding the edge, as shown in Fig.5, by means of a proper implement or device; and when'the edge isrounded it may be blacked and burnished to give it a finished and cordedappearance. By the employment of a welting or closing strip thusconstructed the edges of the leather A B through which the stitches passare laid and held tightly against the bevelin g faces of the said strip,and the leather when the seam is beaten out is not turned so sharply onitself at the points designated at 3, Fig. 7. The stitches are thereforesubjected to less strain and the seam is not so liable to gape, orcrack, as it is termed, at each side of the welting or closing strip onthe finished side of the goods. The inside of the seam is alsoimproved,and the distance between the points at and 5, Fig. 5, is not sogreat as it would be if a parallel-sided welt-strip were employed. Theinner edge of the welting or closing strip, being thin, is more flexibleand permits the seam to be beaten out more perfectly and easily thanwould be the case if a strip were employed which was as thick at oneedge as at the other.

In turning the work after it is stitched that is, separating the piecesof leather A B into the same planethe stitches are less apt to show orgrin than is the case when the old form of welting or closing strip isemployed. The broad edge of my wedge-shaped welting or closing stripcovers the stitches when the seam is beaten out because of the fact thatit is wider at the edge than where the stitches pass through it.

It will be noted that the cross-sectional shape of the wedge-shapedwelting or closing strip is such that twice the length of strip may bemade from the same amount of stock as could be made if the said weltingor closing strip were of equal thickness at both edges-that is to say, astrip of leather of a sufficient size to make a welting or closing stripof equal thickness at both edges is severed diagonally, as shown, Fig.3,and with the result of producing a quantity of welting or closingstrip twice as great in length as the original piece of leather and theimproved strip will have the same appearance in the finished seam thatthe original piece of leather would have if placed in the seam and withthe additional advantages in finishing, beating out the seam, &c., whichhave been heretofore enumerated. In this way an eifective welting orclosing strip is provided, by the employment of which a seam of superior.quality is obtained, said strip being produced at a minimum of expenseby the employment of a minimum of stock.

The strip of stock represented in Fig. 3 is rectangular in cross-sectionand the welting or closing strips produced by severing the same by a outalong one of the diagonals of the said parallelogram have the form incross-section of right-angled triangles, as represented in Fig. 2, andin consequence are slightly unsymmetrical. The strip of stock may bemade, as in Fig. 4, of the shape in cross-section of a rhomboid, andwhen it is thus formed the welting or closing strip produced bysplitting the same on the diagonal, as indicated at 2 in Fig. at, willbe in crosssection of a symmetrical triangular form.

What I claim is The combination with the two pieces of material A, B, ofthe interposed welting or clos ing strip consisting of a strip ofmaterial which is tapering in cross-section from one edge thereof to theother, the whole united by stitches passing transversely therethrough,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK XV. MERRIOK.

\Vitnesses:

XVM. A. MAcLEon, RoBT. WALLAcE.

